


Fate of the World

by LadySilver



Category: Tower Prep
Genre: Gen, Gift Fic, post-Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 20:17:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadySilver/pseuds/LadySilver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ian, Gabe, CJ, and Suki get their next assignment.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fate of the World

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Insomnia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Insomnia/gifts).



> To Insomnia-
> 
> With so many mysteries within mysteries, it was hard to figure out where to take the characters next. I hope the direction they get pointed in works for you. Happy Yuletide!

_Fate of the world_ , Ian kept thinking while they walked. He didn’t want to, and didn’t know why he was, but the four syllables fell right in line with his steps on the hard packed dirt and seemed to precede him like it was a message from his preflex. _Fate. Of. The. World._

“Does anyone think we could’ve planned this better?” Gabe huffed, interrupting Ian’s silent litany. He spun around as he walked as if the trees had answers secreted in their branches that he would find it he only looked fast enough. “We didn’t bring any food or water. We don’t have any money or clothes. Does anyone even know what direction we’re going?” He mumbled something else that could have been a complaint about his feet, but that sounded suspiciously like “Señor Guapo.”

Most of those issues were valid ones. Unfortunately, none of the four could do anything about them now. “We had an opportunity and we took it,” Ian commented, trying to model the confidence he didn’t quite feel. He paused to survey the spread of trees and the direction of the trail. Unless they wanted to venture into the woods itself, their only option was to follow the path, and so far following the prescribed path was what they’d been trying to avoid doing. It never seemed to lead anywhere they wanted to go.

“Yeah, but an opportunity for what?” CJ asked. For the first time, she looked like she truly doubted their decision to escape. 

“I think it’s a little too late to be asking these questions,” Suki pointed out. She hugged herself, a small shudder running through her body. “Whatever comes next, we’ll figure it out. We’ve gotten this far and no one thought we would.”

Gabe pushed his glasses up on his nose and perked up. “That’s true. Whisper said that we were the first kids to ever escape. Go us!”

CJ smiled wanly, and Ian was left wondering about what the mysterious man had told him: that only three would escape. Eventually they would need food and water. Night would be coming on, and with it cold. Was one of them going to succumb to these needs?

Ian shook his head and shoved the thought away. No use dwelling on any of that now. The path stretched out before them, offering the only real hope they had for the moment. This was a trail made by humans, which meant it had to lead somewhere. He could only hope it wasn’t a product of the gnomes or escapees from West Campus and that it led to a town or a port. 

For lack of other options, he resumed walking, leading the way as well as the lapse into introspective silence. He could practically taste his mother’s lasagna. Yet, all he could hear were the sounds of his feet crunching along the path to the silent syncope of _Fate. Of. The. World._

Sometime later, the forest abruptly ended. The tree-line gave way to a field of waving grass that ran for only a short distance before it, too, ended with an abrupt drop off that marked the edge of the island.

In the middle of the clearing sat a helicopter, its blades still and silent, yet waiting. Standing in front of it was Headmaster. When he saw them emerge, he brought his hands together in front of him and tapped his fingertips. His slate gray suit was pristine and he’d replaced his tie. All signs of the earlier fight were gone save for a darkening bruise on his jaw. 

Ian stopped short, his arm automatically flinging out to hold back the others. “What are you doing here?” Gabe, CJ, and Suki pulled to a stop next to him, grumbles coming from all of them at the same time. 

Headmaster turned and looked pointedly at the edge of the cliff. From below came the crashing of waves into the rock wall, and the reminder that escaping Tower Prep was more complicated than leaving school grounds. “I’m here to offer you a choice,” he said, when he turned back.

“That’s great!” Gabe clapped his hands together as he stepped forward. His tone dripped with sarcasm, which he made no effort to disguise. “Since, you know, you lost, and all. Think of all the problems you could have saved if you’d offered us this choice up front? Like, before you even brought us here.” Like all of them, he was sweaty and dusty, his breath coming shorter from the exertion of hiking. He also looked really ticked off, which wasn’t surprising considering that he’d had to escape not just from Tower Prep but from the West Campus detention facility. His discomfort only helped to fuel his attitude.

“Certain perquisites must be earned,” Headmaster responded, seemingly not phased at all. “Before one can earn them, one must first pass the necessary tests.”

This stilled all of the escapees. Though they had long figured out that the school was a laboratory, the number and nature of specific tests within its walls still eluded them, mostly because it seemed like _everything_ was a test or a puzzle. That escaping from Tower Prep was one of the tests hadn’t occurred to any of them until they’d done it and Whisper had left them with her mysterious message.

“Do you want me to leave?” CJ spoke up, suddenly, directing the question to her father. Her question was the last one Ian had expected to hear her ask, and it was all he could do to keep his jaw from dropping open at what it implied. “I mean, I can go wait in the helicopter. If you want me to?” She shifted on her feet and dropped her gaze to the ground.

“Ceej, no,” Suki answered before anyone else could chime in. “You escaped too. You’re part of the team.” With a touch to CJ’s arm, Suki confirmed the truth of her words. She shed her jacket sometime back and had tied it by its arms around her waist. Her formerly white shirt was darkened with dust, the fabric limp with overwearing, yet she stood strong with no sign of the exhaustion she must be feeling.

“You can’t escape if you were never trapped,” CJ admitted softly. She couldn’t meet Suki’s eyes. Her brown hair was slipping from the half-pony tail she’d styled it in. Sweat-damped strands framed her face.

“What do you mean?” Suki asked.

“Tower Prep is my home,” CJ explained. “Where else would I go? I don’t have families out there like the rest of you do.” She gestured helplessly toward the horizon and the world beyond that Ian suddenly realized she had never seen, and finally raised her eyes to look at her father.

“I’m delighted to see that you’re coming around,” Headmaster told her. “You may stay. You earned it.” It sounded like a grudging admission, and yet one he had been waiting a long time to make. “Now, as I was saying, you have all earned the right to make a choice. It won’t be an easy one and it will entail sacrifices, so I want you to think carefully before--”

“What’s the next level?” Ian demanded.

“I’m sorry?” Headmaster said with a slight tilt of his head, as if the failure of the conversation to stay on script amused him. 

Ian had to clench his fists by his side to keep from adding another bruise to the side of the headmaster’s face. “Whisper said that we’re ready for the next level. Tell us where it is.”

A smile quirked at the corners of Headmaster’s lips for an instant before he got it contained. “I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding. The ‘next level’ isn’t a place.” He blinked slowly and caught each of the escapees’ eyes in turn before clarifying: “It’s a responsibility. One you have now proven yourselves worthy of holding. No war can be won without strong leadership, and you are ready to be those leaders.” 

“I’m in,” Suki stated, with a glance at CJ. She squared her shoulders and stepped forward, her expression a resolute mask.

“What?” Gabe protested.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I know that my father is involved and I want to stop him.”

Gabe leaned closer to her and in a stage whisper that he only partially hid behind a hand shield asked, “What happened to escaping?”

Suki didn’t bother to lower her voice. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since we saw Whisper. She said there’s a battle coming and I know that my family is on the wrong side. I want to help. Who knows Sato systems better than me? Who’s in the best position to get on the inside?” From her tone, the questions were rhetorical. 

“Your skills of impersonation have a lot more value than school yard pranks,” Headmaster confirmed.

“And me?” Gabe asked. “What do you have planned for me? Are you going to send me back to the school to talk the other students into joining your side? Oh! Do you want me to take over the Rooks?”

“You’re not going back to the school. Your time there is finished,” Headmaster replied. “Consider yourself graduated. As for your role, it’s not the current students who will need persuading. It’s the alumni. If you check your phone, you’ll find a list of key Tower Prep graduates who could benefit from a word or two in their ears.”

Gabe puffed up at the obvious compliment, which, combined with the exoneration from three years of schooling, was a perfect bribe, and patted his chest in pride. “I’ve always wanted to travel the world. It’s even better if someone else is paying.”

Headmaster brushed his hands over his coat and started to turn toward the helicopter, as if he had said all that he needed to say and it was time to leave. He took a step at the same time as Gabe, Suki, and CJ brought their attention around to Ian. He’d been the only one who hadn’t spoken up, which was strange on every level.

Into that silence, Ian said, “I want to go home.”

Headmaster lowered his foot and turned back. “I assumed that was what you would request.” The statement was dismissive and, perhaps, a little sad, as if Ian’s request would be so upsetting that he had been trying to avoid having it confirmed. “Whisper, we’ll have five on board,” he spoke, and the helicopter’s blades started their ponderous spin, slowly picking up speed.

“It is what I want,” Ian corrected. He had to raise his voice over the noise of the engine to add: “But it’s not what I’m going to ask for.”

From next to him someone gasped. He couldn’t tell who. The blades were sending a slight breeze through the grass, bending the long stems and cooling the sweat on his face. He brushed a hand through his brown hair, widened his stance. “I want the truth,” he continued. “I want you to tell me everything you know about Tower Prep. Then, _I’ll_ decide if I’m going to the next level.”

Headmaster mulled the demand over for only a second before dipping his head in acquiescence. 

With his friends by his side, Ian started to walk toward the helicopter and the start of the answers he’d been searching for all along. They were going to be important, he knew, farther reaching than he ever could have imagined. Crossing to the helicopter took sixteen steps: four times four. He’d been searching for a challenge to test himself against, and now he’d finally found it.


End file.
